Outlaw Nation

Outlaw Nation
Cover of the first issue
Publication information
Publisher	Vertigo Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Publication date	November 2000 – May 2002
Number of issues	19
Main character(s)	Story Johnson
Creative team
Writer(s)	Jamie Delano
Penciller(s)	Goran Sudzuka (1-8) Goran Parlov (9-19)
Inker(s)	Goran Sudzuka (1-3, 9-19) Sebastian Camagajevac (4-8)
Letterer(s)	Robert Solanovic
Colorist(s)	Noelle Giddings Allen Jamison Zylonol Studios
Creator(s)	Jamie Delano Goran Sudzuka
Editor(s)	Karen Berger Will Dennis Steve Bunche
Collected editions
Outlaw Nation	ISBN 158240707X

Outlaw Nation is an American comic book series originally published by Vertigo Comics from 2000 to 2002, and created by Jamie Delano and Goran Sudzuka.

Publication history

A preview for the series, suggesting that its original title was intended to be The Great Satan, was published in Vertigo's winter special Winter's Edge #3. The story introduced members of the Johnson family and showed them discussing the myth that was Story Johnson.^[1] Delano created the series to be "the big, sprawling, hallucinatory "American Adventure Story" that [he had] always wanted to write"^[2], and crafted the idea of his central family of character, the Johnsons, with reference to the work of the beat poets:

Derived from a 19th century slang term for hobos and petty thieves, "Johnsons" were characterised by Jack Black in his 1926 autobiography as a society of "yegs" - outlaws and small-time crooks - who were nonetheless honorable in their dealings with one another and always ready to help out those in trouble. Black's concept of the Johnson Family was inspirational to William S. Burroughs, who developed his own inimitable version in The Place of Dead Roads . . . to Burroughs, a person is either a "Johnson" or a "shit" - and I always amired the irrational simplicity of that.^[2]

Drawing on the established "Johnson" concept, Delano created his own version of the family: a semi-immortal family of mythic outlaw anti-heroes that have lived through three hundred years of American history. Touching on typical Delano concerns, Outlaw Nation shows Story Johnson fighting back against corporate greed, corruption and the limits of resistance in a modern society to come to terms with life in the 21st century.

Plot

The 19-installment saga tells the tale of Story Johnson, a 100 year-old semi-deranged amnesic pulp fiction-writer returning home from 25 years MIA in Vietnam. All Story wants is to recover his missing time and catch up with Johnson Family members. Trouble is, a lot of them have "disappeared," and those that are left have put the blame on him.

Collected editions

The series was collected by Desperado Studios and Image Comics into a single black & white trade paperback containing 456 pages, which was released on November 8, 2006 (ISBN 158240707X).

Notes

1. ^ Delano, Jamie (January 2000), Winter's Edge #3, DC / Vertigo, http://westfieldcomics.com/store.cgi?sc=47304271010842703525&P=33330785, retrieved 2008-11-27 
2. ^ ^{a b} Delano, Jamie (November 2000), On The Ledge, DC / Vertigo 

References

• Outlaw Nation at the Grand Comics Database
• Outlaw Nation at the Comic Book DB

External links

• Jamie Delano: Earning Outlaw Status, Comics Bulletin, September 8, 2000
• To Live Outside The Law You Must Be Honest Interview, December 2001
• IGN comics reprint of press release